If I’m plunking down my cash to buy a UFC pay-per-view, or even if I’m staggering into a bar, I want to see the whole damn show – prelims included. That goes double for UFC 87: Seek and Destroy. Check out the preliminary card for Aug. 9:

Heavyweight: Cheick Kongo vs. Dan Evensen
Welterweight: Chris Wilson vs. Steve Bruno
Welterweight: Ben Saunders vs. Jared Rollins
Welterweight: Luke Cummo vs. Tamdan McCrory
Light Heavyweight: Andre Gusmao vs. Razak Al-Hussan

Folks, that ain’t chopped liver. Kongo’s last two fights were a win over Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and a split decision loss to Heath Herring, who is on the main card at the Target Center. Evensen is 10-2 in MMA action and won all three of his bouts for Bodog Fight. Then you have familiar faces like Saunders and Rollins from The Ultimate Fighter 6. Would it kill Zuffa to show these fights?

As in life, the NFL teams with the most money have a big advantage over the rest of the pack – even with the salary cap. But having money and knowing what to do with it are two different things.

Jerry Jones seems to know what he’s doing. His Dallas Cowboys became the richest franchise in all of pro sports last year, according to Forbes magazine. They moved up from third in the NFL rankings thanks to their new stadium, which will open in 2009. That’s $325 million going from the pockets of Arlington taxpayers into the franchise, bumping its value up to $1.5 billion.

The Washington Redskins used to top the rankings; they’re second now at a mere $1.467 billion. FedExField is only 11 years old, but owner Dan Snyder was reportedly talking to D.C. officials last year about building on top of old RFK Stadium. Maybe someday Snyder will figure out how to turn those profits into a good football team.

The weekend slate of MLB games has been mixed up a bit. Teams have shuffled their pitching rosters in order to get their aces an extra start before the All-Star break. Messing up a pitcher’s routine is a great way to submarine his betting value.

Tim Lincecum already got hosed when he had to pitch Tuesday instead of Wednesday and the Giants lost 7-0 to the Mets. He’s got the assignment on Sunday afternoon at Wrigley against Ryan Dempster and the Cubs.

Meanwhile, Dustin McGowan’s rotator cuff injury puts the Blue Jays under the gun this weekend. Brian Tallet has to go into Yankee Stadium Sunday after throwing 17 pitches in relief Thursday. Tough assignment.

We’ve also got Homer Bailey coming up from the minors to pitch Sunday for the Cincinnati Reds in place of Aaron Harang. Bailey has a 4.31 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP in 15 starts for AAA-Louisville. His opponents: CC Sabathia and the Brewers.

When Andy Roddick lost his second-round match at Wimbledon to Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic, joining compatriot James Blake on the sidelines, it was America’s darkest day at SW19 since the tournament became an open event in 1968.

“We’ve been struggling for a long time, and it has just gotten worse,” New York-based tennis coach Gene Mayer told the Canadian Press. “We just are producing no players.”

Tell that to the women. The Williams sisters are on pace for yet another finals showdown; they’ve won six of the last eight championships between them. But it is true that American tennis has dried up otherwise. All the great players who came out of Florida’s training academies in the 1980s – including international stars like Monica Seles who became Americans – are part of tennis history now.

Getting the infrastructure back up and running will help. But this is really more about the rise of the rest of the world rather than the decline of the American empire.